The World Isn't Always So Magical
by TheDimensionOfWords
Summary: Normal world kid AU. John has left, and this time it seems final. How do the boys cope with yet another parent leaving their lives? Dean makes a promise this time.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Radom normal AU. Warning for implied past abuse.**

"It's for the best," Sammy whispered, through a throat tight with tears.

"Is that what you think?" Dean's voice was raised, his hands tugging at his hair, his back to Sammy. "You never cared about him! You always provoked him! And you're not the one who has to take the place that he left!"

Sammy's tears spilled over at Dean's rage, but he was used to be the target of senseless anger. "I don't care! We are better off now!" Sam raised his voice, fighting back.

Dean spun toward him for the first time since Sammy had handed him the letter detailing their father's new plans, plans that didn't include his children, that just boiled down to him leaving for good this time. Dean's face was twisted with rage, his fist balled, and tears ripe to fall in his lashes. Sammy shrunk back, an instinct he had developed whenever their father got in one of his moods. He had never felt that fear for Dean though, and he didn't really now. But the moment that Dean saw his brother's face, glistening with quick falling tears, his whole form sagged. "Come here," Dean said, voice thick and hoarse. Sammy hurried forward to be pulled into his brother's arms, and found, as always, a shoulder to cry on.

They stood there for what felt like ages when- "Dean, is Sammy okay?" a little worried voice piped from the doorway of the living room.

Dean reached a hand to scrub away some of his own tears quickly, before turning to face the little boy, clad in footie pjs and clutching his teddy bear. "Yeah," Dean rasped, before clearing his throat. "Yeah, everything's going to be fine, Adam. You go back to sleep now, sport."

"But I want to make sure Sammy is okay first," Adam insisted, clutching his teddy bear closer. They were a stubborn family, for better or worse.

"I'm good," Sammy sniffed from Dean's shoulder, peaking up and giving Adam a smile. He held onto Dean a little tighter though, needing someone in their lives who didn't disappear.

Adam seemed to notice and hurried forward to hug onto Sammy, pressing a kiss to his side, the highest place little Adam could reach. "Kisses make booboos better," he insisted, peaking up as Sammy ruffled his hair.

Dean reached and put a hand on Adam's back, rubbing it soothingly. How was he supposed to explain this to the kid, who had already lost his mother, about Dad? Heaving a sigh, he came up with something else to say, something easier. "How about we all get some sleep, and in the morning, I'll make us pancakes?" Both faces turned up toward him. "It is the first day of summer vacation after all."

Adam squeaked with excitement, and toddled off imminently, leaving Sam to pull away and meet Dean's eyes. "Will we really be okay?" he asked, imploring, needing the answer.

Dean put a believable smile on his face. "Yeah, we will." He didn't even bother to mention that this was all insane, how could a highschooler raise one middleschooler and a preschooler? He wasn't sure of the answer, be he knew he would have to do it.

Sammy searched his face, before a little smile truly came to his own. "Pancakes?"

"I promise," Dean said, sincerely. Dad had never promised anything. "Now off to bed, and don't let this worry you."

Sammy nodded and padded off, still in his own pajamas from being woken by the leaving truck, only to find the note. Dean heaved another heavy sigh once he heard the door to his brothers' shared room close. He moved around the island that was all that separated the living room from the kitchen and open the fridge. Staring out at him were several rows a beer. His stomach churned as he picked one up, glaring at it. Resisting the almost overwhelming urge to break it, he set about dumping each bottle down the drain, opening the little window over the sink to let the spring air wash the smell of malt away. Then, with care, he washed each bottle and put them in a box so that he could get change from them. It was time to look for more work.

But he knew, deep down, that he was right. They would be okay, they always had been before. As long as they stuck together. With one final look around the now silent house, Dean copied his brothers and went to his room to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Same warning as before, abuse/neglect.**

Ever since Sammy and Dean's mother died in a fire that also took their big home, the Winchester household had been broken. A shaky marriage to start with, John hadn't know how to raise the two children, and he was now all they had. And he ended up just not being there most of the time, providing them with only the trailer above their heads and food. The few times he did behave paternally only causing his sons to be confused in how much they could rely on him.

A break did come, for three years. For Dean and Sammy it had been a breath for fresh air, when his father remarried. Hannah Milligan gave the boy's the mother figure both had been craving. When she was killed in a car accident by a drunken John, it was devastating. Only Dean knew, but she had been planning to divorce John, and hadn't done so yet because she wanted to make sure she could gain custody of not just her own baby son, Adam, but her two stepsons. Dean felt guilty she hadn't gotten out, preventing her death, but he also know that he would have wanted to go with her.

This landed them back to square one, plus one. Dean found himself taking care of a two year old, and Sammy did what he could to help. Sometimes John shot Dean looks, which Dean didn't understand for the longest time. Then he started wondering if it wasn't that John resented him, due to the fact that Sammy and Adam always came to Dean with their problems, they looked up to him. Like young Dean was their father.

But this didn't even matter anymore, because John was gone. Dean was all his brothers had left in the world and he wouldn't let them down. So over the summer, he made excuses. When Uncle Bobby came to visit, he always said John was just away, doing something, and would be back at some point. Sometimes people in town asked him, like when he went to work or to buy groceries. He gave the same answer, and mumbled something about his dad having a new job. And people believed him, because who wouldn't? No one wanted to believe that a father would abandon his children, and that the oldest was now left to man the house and provide.

Dean managed his subterfuge for three years, two with Bobby, who had seen the change in the boys, how they seemed better cared for, happier. It was only because of this that when he found out, he listened when Dean asked if he could continue what he was doing, and for Bobby not to intervene. Bobby agreed, but made sure to visit more often, sending all the money he could Dean's way.

When Dean was eighteen, he fought and gained legal custody of his two brothers. And that was the end of hiding, for as an adult Dean could now do many things. He learned to drive, took a class or two every semester at the local community college, and worked, all so his brothers could see themselves through school. Sammy got into Harvard four years later and Adam entered middle school. Dean was there for them every step of the way.

All this lead to a lot of babysitting. Dean had made a lot of his income that way. He was brilliant with kids, which is how he made good money at it. He loved kids, and even if he never said it, you could see it on his face. So when he got a degree in early childhood education and opened his own daycare, no one batted an eye.

**A/N: I have gotten a few requests for this to continue, as well as some follows, so I wanted to post what else I had written in this AU for you lovely people. I am not going to write more as I am no longer in the fandom, but here is where I though this fic was going. I hope it feels more complete now! Just picture Dean running daycare, raising teen Adam, and throw in some Destiel.**


End file.
